I’ll no doubt be posting pictures & reviews somewhere when we get back…..

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Please note – this post is purely an experiment – if you arrived here looking for information about upscaling graphics, upscaling video or upscaling dvd players, then I’m sorry to disappoint. this article is about the fact that upscaling servers makes sense.

TTFN

BFG

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They’re also only giving 2 weeks notice & will be auto-terminating accounts.

Oh – & if you happen to have got an affiliated (associated) link indexed by any of the search engines – they’re not going to be paying you for that either…..

This doesn’t effect me – but I know that it will hit some people very hard.

What do you think? is 2 weeks notice enough?

Here’s the email in full.

Dear Associate,

We’re writing to let you know about some
changes to the Amazon.co.uk Associates Programme.

After careful review of our Associates programme,
we have made the decision that as of February 1, 2010, we will no longer
pay referral fees to Associates who send users to www.amazon.co.uk,
http://astore.amazon.co.uk or www.javari.co.uk
through keyword bidding or other paid search on Google, Bing, Yahoo!, or
any other search engine, or their extended search networks. In connection
with this change, as of February 1, 2010, we will no longer provide Associates
who engage in such paid search activities with access to our Product Advertising
API or datafeeds. If you are currently enrolled in the Associates Programme
as a Paid Search Placement Associate and wish to continue to participate
in the Programme after February 1, 2010, you must choose a new category
that most accurately describes the method you will use to send users to
the Amazon.co.uk or Javari.co.uk site. Of course, just choosing a new category
is not sufficient – you will also need to stop sending traffic via paid
search links, as you will no longer be paid for such traffic starting on
February 1, regardless of what category you choose. You may change your
category by writing to us using the Contact Us form available on Associates
Central or by following this link:

https://affiliate-program.amazon.co.uk/gp/associates/contact

If you are enrolled in the Associates Programme
as a Paid Search Placement Associate and you do not contact us to modify
your category on or prior to March 1 2010 your Associates account will
automatically be closed.

In addition, as of February 1, 2010 we will
no longer pay referral fees on purchases made by customers who are referred
to www.amazon.co.uk or www.javari.co.uk
via Free Search Results. Free Search Results are links containing an Associate’s
tag displayed in a search engine’s free, natural, or organic search results
in response to a search query which send customers directly to an Amazon
site without the customer first being sent to an Associate’s site and the
customer clicking on a link to arrive at the Amazon site.

These changes do not prohibit you from purchasing
paid search advertisements or submitting links to search engines so long
as the links that appear on the search engines send customers to your site.
If customers arrive at the Amazon.co.uk or Javari.co.uk site by clicking
on Special Links displayed on your site (ie, links on your site pointing
to Amazon.co.uk or Javari.co.uk with Amazon Associates tags), you will
continue to earn referral fees in accordance with the Associates Programme
Operating Agreement. There are a number of tools available through Associates
Central to assist you with integrating Special Links into your sites, such
as aStore by Amazon, various customisable widgets, and the Product Advertising
API.

These changes apply only to the Associates
Programme in the UK. If you are conducting paid or free search activities
in connection with one of Amazon’s Associates Programmes outside of the
UK, please refer to the applicable country’s Associates Programme Operating
Agreement for relevant terms and conditions.

For a summary of these changes please visit
this page See what’s changed, and to review
the Operating Agreement please visit this page FAQs.

If you have questions or concerns, please
write to us by using the Contact Us form available on Associates Central
or by following this link:

https://affiliate-program.amazon.co.uk/gp/associates/contact

Best regards,

Your Amazon.co.uk Associates Team

You have been reading a post from BFG's Blog.

I’ve just created a new managed Easy Content Unit for 3M’s recently launched range of Car Care Products.
You’ll see an example below but as ever – you’re free to adjust the syling within your ECU account.

You have been reading a post from BFG's Blog.

You can hardly imagine my delight the other morning when I had a flyer from Dominos through my letterbox – they’ve opened a new outlet just down the road & I can now get deliveries!! The nearest one to me previously was in Farnham & they didn’t deliver this far out. For years I’ve had to make do with dodgy pizzas from our local kebab shop – & they only do deep pan, not the thin crust that I prefer.

This reminded me that a week or so back I saw that Dominos had launched on Affiliate Window – I have a couple of sites where I make a decent amount of money promoting Just Eat & thought that Dominos would be a really nice addition.

So off I went to Affiliate Window to join their program – I was halted slightly by the HUGE block on the page telling me that I really should go & create a darwin account – maybe I’ll post my thoughts about Darwin later. I did a quick search for ‘Pizza’ & spotted Dominos right underneath Just Eat – so clicked ‘Join’ – accepted the terms & waited for approval.

& waited..

& waited….

& waited……

Now call me a bluff old traditionalist if you like, but I would have thought that if a program has only been live for a week then someone would be actively monitoring sign-ups & approving (or rejecting) on a fairly regular basis. I’m fairly sure that it was before 09:00 Thurday when I applied & here we are at 21:00 on Friday & I’ve still heard nothing.

I’ve just logged into Affiliate Window to see if there was anything odd about the program – maybe they only approve applications on a full moon or something? – & whilst there I read fully the Program T&Cs.

I’ll reproduce them in full here :-

• Affiliates are prohibited from promoting voucher codes / special / exclusive offers unless provided to them by Affiliate Window or BLM Quantum.
• Voucher code sites must ensure that they adhere to the 2009 IAB guidelines.
• Affiliates are not permitted to link directly to the Domino’s site or to use the official URL www.dominos.co.uk
• Affiliates are prohibited from using branded URL’s without being given prior consent.
• Affiliates are prohibited from using the term “official” in their search copy.
• Affiliates are not permitted to bid on any brand related terms in any search engine, including miss-spellings.
• Affiliates who wish to promote via email must have prior consent from Affiliate Window or BLM Quantum.
• Cashback / incentive sites must make it clear to their customers that they will only receive cashback if they are a new customer to Domino’s

I’ve bolded the points I have an issue with.

Affiliates are not permitted to link directly to the Domino’s site or to use the official URL www.dominos.co.uk

What? I’m not permitted to link directly to them? So this is breaking their terms (twice): www.dominos.co.uk
Maybe they mean that I’m only allowed to use affiliated links? seems fairly strange to me though.

Affiliates are prohibited from using branded URL’s without being given prior consent.

I presume they’re referring to their own brand (although it’s not clear). I find this really annoying – surely if I write a blog post about how great Dominos Pizzas are, then it’s natural that ‘dominos’ would end up in the url for that post (this post has it twice).

Affiliates are prohibited from using the term “official” in their search copy.

Again – WHAT? I’m not allowed to use the word “official” in MY search copy? what about my huge forums for the official red widget supporters club – we all know that red widget supporters love nothing more than sitting down to a nice takeaway whilst chatting away online about the nasty green widgets, is this site to be excluded because it quite innocently uses the word official in it’s “search copy” ? Actually – I’m not exactly sure what they mean by “search copy”.

Now as you know, I’m not afraid of calling a spade a spade, so, here goes.

It looks to me as if these terms have been put together by a troop of poorly trained monkeys & I think this program is being (mis)managed from the outset, possibly by someone who is qualified to do it due to the fact that they once saw a copy of a marketing book on someone elses desk.

Oh – I just did a quick search for dominos discount – Looks like the usual suspect is breaking the IAB Guidelines – AGAIN.

This all ends on a happy note though – I had a pizza delivered last night – half Texan BBQ & half Chicken Tikka – Thin Crust – it was AWESOME.

TTFN

BFG

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I spotted this post over at Dave Naylor’s blog today.

In the post, he & the commentors are berating twitter for ‘getting it wrong’ – “I bet their inhouse SEO feels like a right cock now”.

Do they (twitter) really care though? do they need their pages to be ranked in google? do they need trending topics (which are just links to searches) to be indexed? would google index links to search results anyway? My guess is that twitter couldn’t give a rats ass about SEO – what do you think?

TTFN

BFG

You have been reading a post from BFG's Blog.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I watch the X Factor -- Mainly because I enjoy watching the really really bad acts in the early stages -- the guy who worked in a chicken factor who sang Barbie Girl was probably my favourite….

Anyway -- I’ve been watching the latest series & thought that these 2 guys are very very good -- I can see them going all the way to the final.

TTFN

BFG

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You’ll see I went for the pornstar look – as demanded by Fluff/Stuart/Mr Dawson.

I’ve had some interesting reactions – one guy at work asked – “so is it a fashion thing or….” & just let it hang – I was so close to replying with “My boyfriend likes it”.

As ever – sponsorships gratefully received.

If you look really really closely – you can just see that the reflection of the sun has made little bits look really really pale – NOT GREY!

TTFN

BFG

P.S. Put your hand in your pocket – grab a card – then click here.

You have been reading a post from BFG's Blog.

Spotify is available in the app store now.

What are you waiting for – go & get it :

TTFN

BFG

You have been reading a post from BFG's Blog.

Despite what you may have read elsewhere, I was first to reveal that the iPhone Spotify Application had been approved. Don’t believe me? Check out the date of this post – still don’t believe me? check out the date of this Twitter update. Yup – It was here a week before anyone else had it.

Anyway – the same source has told me to expect it in the app store from Next Thursday – 10th September.

TTFN

BFG

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